Tag Archives: Sinjar

Report of a seminar held at Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, on Saturday 22 November, organised by Roj Women and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign.

On Saturday 22 November, representatives of several women’s organisations gathered in SOAS University for a seminar to discuss the use of sexualised violence in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Syria. In particular, the event sought to bring attention to the kidnapping of Yezidi women in the Sinjar province by ISIS fighters in August and discuss ways to campaign for their release. The seminar was introduced and chaired Isabel Käser, a PhD candidate, at the Centre for Gender Studies, SOAS, and included members of a newly emerging Women’s Alliance for Kurdistan, Iraq and Syria, a platform of UK based women’s groups who convened following the crisis in Sinjar. Continue reading →

Three months after ISIS fighters attacked the Iraqi region on Sinjar, the fate of thousands of women kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery following the raids is still unknown and no international investigation into their welfare has taken place. However, just as it has done in the defence of Kobane in Syria, the Kurdish Women’s Movement has mobilised with allied organisations to take action for the missing women.

This event will bring together women activists and representatives of the Kurdish women’s organisations to give you first-hand information about how people have responded to the crisis on the ground. We’ll also discuss the unique potential within the Kurdish Women’s Movement for engendering gender liberation in the region and its role in the development of the Rojava revolution.

The appeal below has been issued by the newly established Joint Diplomatic Committee consisting of several Kurdish political parties and organsiations:

An Urgent Appeal to the International Community

Protecting the Kurdish people and preventing the forced displacement of our nation in our land can only be achieved through a mutual stance on this matter.

Following a series of brutal ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) attacks on Kurdistan, on 10/08/2014 the Foreign Relations Commission of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) sent an urgent request to the foreign offices of all the Kurdish parties across the diaspora to initiate joint lobbying and diplomatic relations. Continue reading →

The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) has issued this appeal from the Joint Diplomatic Committee of Kurdistan Organisations, formed after a meeting on 17 August 2014 with representatives from all Kurdish parties and organisations which called for unified diplomatic action on the current crisis. The appeal calls for humanitarian aid to be sent to Rojava as well as South Kurdistan, and for the international community to recognise the Sinjar crisis as genocide.

An Urgent Appeal to the International Community

(By the Joint Diplomatic Committee of Kurdistan Organisations)

Due to the brutal ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) attacks on Kurdistan, the Foreign Relations Commission of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) sent an urgent request to the foreign offices of all the Kurdish Parties and organisations to organise joint lobbying and carry out diplomatic relations in unison.

The meeting which took place on 17/08/2014 at the Kurdistan National Congress office in Brussels hosted the representatives from foreign offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Koma Civaken Democratic – Europe (KCD), the Leftist Party of Kurdistan (Hizbi Shuhy Kurdistan), Kurdistan Islamic Union, Kurdistan Islamic Group, The Federation of Yezidi Kurds, The Union of Assyrians in Europe, Democratic Union Party (PYD), The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, (PJAK), the representatives of the Democratic Nations Party in Europe (HDP) and the Kurdish Institute in Brussels. However, due to the short notice and emergencies a number of invited political parties could not attend the meeting, and a request was made to organise another meeting in the near future.

We are calling for all international organizations, human rights bodies, civil society organizations, United Nations bodies, the League of the Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, all humanitarian relief organizations, the international charity organizations, we are calling on all of them to stand with us, support us and live up to their humanitarian obligations and provide relief for the Yezidi people. The Yezidis are facing genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement by the ISIS. We have been able so far to rescue nearly a hundred thousand of people in very difficult conditions. A large number of them have lost their lives as a result of the hardships, many of them summarily executed, including women and children. Thousands have been forced into the Badush prison in Mosul, where also a large number of women are being held, some of them sold into slavery. Continue reading →

The EUTCC urgently calls in the strongest voice for the United Nations, USA, EU, and all regional powers who believe in the inherent rights of human beings to be free from arbitrary executions and denials of basic human rights to immediately take all necessary steps to secure Kurdish rights from the depravations of ISIS which has recently struck at the Kurds in Sinjar (Shengal) in Northern Iraq. ISIS’ attacks have led to a mass civilian displacement of about 200,000 people, mostly from the Yezidi community. The yezidis will create a huge new refugee problem and call for immediate humanitarian aid. The ISIS attacks constitute serious war crimes and even possibly genocide as defined by the Genocide Convention.

What the world is witnessing in the wake of ISIS ravages is no less than a threat against humanity and the EUTCC call upon the UN, USA and EU to act immediately – not by empty words but by their concrete actions. We also call upon Turkey to stop intervening and withdraw its support to ISIS.

Unless a stand is taken now, more and more innocents will be threatened and murdered.

EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR AFRIN

Life in Afrin

Weekly News Briefing

Jeremy Corbyn issues statement of support for the National Demo

Message from Jeremy Corbyn to Kurdish national demonstration in London:
“I’m sorry not to be able to be with you today, but I send a message of solidarity with today’s demonstration, and with the Kurdish people, under sustained attack across the Middle East.
The conflict in Syria has been the trigger for an onslaught against the Kurdish people, who are defending their autonomy and their rights.
We are watching closely the alarming events that have been unfolding in Turkey in recent weeks, including the killing of civilians and destruction of Kurdish homes.
Any negotiated settlement of the Syrian conflict must include peace and justice for the Kurds, including in Turkey. And the Turkish government needs as a matter of urgency to restart the peace process with the Kurds and respect the rights of all its people.
We call for an end to repression of the Kurds and justice for the Kurdish people throughout the Middle East.”

Destruction and Repression in North Kurdistan

Freedom for Ocalan!

On the 19th anniversary of his kidnap and imprisonment by Turkey, we renew our call for Abdullah Ocalan to be freed as part of a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.